Hair formulations which make it possible to treat hair damaged by exposure to the weather or by physical (blow-drying, combing, and the like) or chemical (dyeing, bleaching, and the like) hair treatments are already known in the state of the art. Use has already been made, for this purpose, of ceramides or glycoceramides for the purpose of protecting the hair fibre. The application to hair of the latter compositions or of ceramides alone results, however, in inadequate cosmetic performances, on both wet hair and dry hair.
In the hair field, problems of breaking of hairs frequently arise when the latter are subjected to a simple mechanical treatment, such as brushing, combing or smoothing, it being possible for this type of treatment to be carried out in combination or not with concomitant or consecutive cosmetic treatments, such as hair straightening, shampooing, dyeing or perming. Furthermore, during mechanical treatments, such as blow-drying, the hairs are damaged by the heat of the dryer and the passage of the brush through the hairs in order to shape the hair.
The problems of breaking are furthermore particularly exacerbated in certain types of very curly hair where a phenomenon of premature breaking is observed (J. Soc. Cosmet. Chem., 36, January/February 1985, 39-52). Its high degree of curliness stands in the way of easy disentangling or smoothing and thus requires the application of greater mechanical stresses. For obvious reasons, these stresses significantly affect the mechanical strength of the hair and generally result in a high level of breakages.
Many hairs are thus broken during blow-drying. A search is thus underway for compositions which make it possible to protect the hair from breaking in this way during these assaults.
In order to prevent the phenomena of breakage of the individual hair, provision has already been made to treat hair with compounds of ceramide type.
Ceramides or their analogues are known to protect and/or repair the skin and/or hair fibres from assaults by the various agents and treatments mentioned above. In particular, they have a barrier effect which limits the escape of proteins; they also reinforce cuticular cohesion.
However, even if the ceramides prove to be effective, the protection or repair properties of the compositions comprising such compounds may still appear inadequate.
In particular, it is generally necessary to carry out several applications of the composition comprising ceramides.
Furthermore, it is also known that hydroxy acids have a reinforcing effect on the hair fibre. However, here again, it is generally necessary to carry out several applications of the composition in order to obtain satisfactory effects regarding breakage of the hair.